A special team of the Tamil Nadu police has arrested five people in connection with the Kodanad murder-heist case on Monday, four years after investigations began into it. The brother of key accused Kanagaraj, who was former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s driver and was killed in a car accident in April 2017, is one among the five arrested in the case.
Dhanapal, the 44-year-old kin of Kanagaraj, was nabbed by the team in the Nilgiris, along with another accused Ramesh. Police sources told CNN-News18 that the duo were indulging in the tampering of vital evidence related to the case.
They are currently lodged in the Guadalur prison in the Nilgiris.
Weeks ahead of Monday’s arrests, the police under the new DMK government decided to reopen the case when the Nilgiris district court was in the final stages of hearing.
Back in 2017, two of the prime suspects, Sayan and Kanagaraj, were suspiciously involved in accidents a day apart. Kanagaraj was allegedly killed in a mishap in Salem. The following day, Sayan was purportedly involved in a road accident in which he lost his wife and daughter.
The arrests made on Monday are the first in connection with the case. The probe that was moving snail’s speed, picked up pace after MK Stalin became chief minister.
Former CM and AIADMK leader Edapadi Palaniswami had cried foul at the renewed interest in the case and alleged that Stalin’s government was indulging in a fishing expedition to net him in the investigation.
The police are expected to make similar arrests in the days to come.
It all began when the estate’s security guard Om Bahadur was killed in April 2017, with items like costly watches and a crystal rhinoceros figurine in the bungalow being looted. The case’s investigation started under the AIADMK government. According to the police, Om was killed during the robbery while another security guard Kishan Bahadur was severely injured. Eleven men have been accused, including Sayan (a former driver from Kodanad), in connection with the incident, who had come in three vehicles including two high-end SUVs.
Kishan Bahadur had recorded his statement, but as he was allowed to return to his home in Nepal, his current location is unknown, according to officials. Forensic experts had said that the evidence was tampered with before they arrived at the crime scene as many top bureaucrats had reached the Kodanad estate. Sayan has been demanding further investigation, saying he has to confess before the court. In a 16-minute documentary released by journalist Mathew Samuel in 2019, Sayan and another accused, Valayar Manoj, alleged that the-then chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami had given a contract for the robbery. The allegation was immediately denied by EPS.
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